1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to physical financial instrument processing. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for remotely processing checks through electronic interaction between the physical location of the instrument and a financial institution.
2. Related Applications
The act of depositing or otherwise converting a financial instrument such as a check, draft, or other instrument has generally required the physical presentment of the instrument by the bearer to a financial institution such as a bank, credit union, or other institution authorized to accept and process monetary instruments. Indeed, the depositing and clearing of checks has heretofore involved individuals or organizations physically taking their deposit, such as in the form of a check, to financial institutions or trusted remote institutional branches, otherwise known as the bank of first deposit, where the deposit may be accepted, and credited to the bank customer's account, of course, subject to the check “clearing” with the maker financial institution.
Financial institutions have developed methods for reducing the amount of paper flow associated with checks within their organizations, however, their target has not been to reduce processing costs, improve the timeliness of the money collection from other financial institutions, and reduce costs associated with handling, storing and returning paper checks to the maker. Therefore, it would be an advancement to provide a new system centered on electronic information that does not require the use of paper items for any purpose.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide an electronic processing system and method that could provide a bearer of a check the convenience to “deposit” a check at a facility, such as a home or office, that is not a traditional bank or bank branch facility.
It would also be advantageous to provide a method and system for allowing the remote depositing and processing a check that does not require the physical routing of the actual check in order to accomplish the various post-deposit processing of a check. It would yet be a further advantage to provide a method and system for improving the collection time involved with the funds represented by the check (i.e., reduce credit “float”).
It would be a benefit to provide a method and system for reducing expenses associated with the transportation costs involved in sending the checks from the bank of first deposit to the maker financial institution.
It would also be a benefit to provide a method and system for reducing the check storage expenses incurred by the bank of first deposit.
It would be a further benefit to enable the bank of first deposit to reduce the staffing, facilities (i.e., physical buildings), and equipment required to accept and process physical checks.